Stories — TCK TOWN

Queen of the Skies

The flights were long, the jet lag even longer, but the airplane itself was home…

GoodbyeBy Stephany Daal (From Suriname, Curaçao, Venezuela & Amsterdam. Living in Brussels)13 May 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture adult, culture, story, identity, flight, flying, KLM, Boeing 747, travel, traveling, transit, airportComment

Cross-Cultural Covidness

We will get through this with grace and kindness towards one another. We have to.

"Where was I" Cookies

But where is home for me? It cannot be just a single place.

COVID-19By Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)6 May 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture adult, culture, story, identity, COVID-19, cookies, cooking, baking, recipeComment

Dreams of Livvy's Paris

I hugged her goodbye and left for the train station. It’s been a year since and that was the last hug I would get from her…

Goodbye, RelationshipsBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)2 May 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, languages, language, Paris, goodbye, family, cousins, cousin, memory, death, grief Comments

Was It All a Dream?

The fog was heavy over the city, and the morning doves softly sang their tunes repeatedly…

GoodbyeBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)29 April 2020Lima, Peru, Dream, Nostalgia, familiar, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, Third Culture Adult, ocean, sadness, memoryComment

When Hate Goes Viral

When hatred goes viral, be careful. Your words come back to bite swift. And hard enough to draw blood…

COVID-19By Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)22 April 2020hate, coronavirus, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, culture, nationality, diversity, race, generosity Comment

Drive-by Veggies

A curfew has been enforced here. You can’t leave the house at all. We’ve been rationing the food we have…

COVID-19By Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)18 April 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture adult, culture, story, identity, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan, COVID-19, Corona, family Comment

The Lagoon of my Backwardness

My language and culture—nothing? Savage me, as you sit there reading books to sail, ignoring heaven and nature…

The Tune of Soviet Tuesdays

He pulled out an old—but new for me—dusty book from his briefcase. Books belonging to the Soviet orchestra library...

Music, The ArtsBy Alexa Shearer (From the US, France, Germany, Georgia, Russia, Bulgaria & Italy. Living in Florida)11 April 2020music, Tck, TCK, TCK TOWN, tck, third culture kid, Soviet, metro, violin, orchestra, cathedral, crowds, station, train Comment

Driss and Philippe—a Friendship Beyond Their Borders

Latin American films (‘Amores Perros’ starring Gabriel Garcia Bernal), Israeli films (‘Waltz with Bashir’ by Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman), and Asian films (‘Yi Yi’ a film set in Taiwan following the lives of the Jian family from their alternating perspectives) — I revelled in them…

Larry Gatlin and the Longing for Home

The song Piel Canela conjures images of my sister in traditional Costa Rican dress, dancing while it plays…

The ArtsBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)4 April 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, familiy, music, the arts, peace, home, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, dancing, homesickComment

Vegemite Homesickness

When I think of Vegemite, I think of Japan—Tokyo specifically. When I first started working in Japan, about half of my co-workers were from Australia…

FoodBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)1 April 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, food, vegemite, Australia, Australian, Japa, Tokyo, Alaska, Amazon, family, visit, vacationComment

The Ebb and Flow of Guam

Of all the places I lived, the beach was closest on Guam. I remember white sand on northern island beaches burning my feet, and those same feet running tourist crowded expanses to the promise of cool, aquamarine lagoons…

WaterBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)28 March 2020Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, water, TCK, TCK TOWN, storm, Guam, beach, touristsComment

Binge Watching Brittany Murphy

Girl follows boy to foreign country, boy leaves girl there, girl falls in love with country (or food of said country) and decides to stay….

Condoms on Bananas & Toxic Attitudes

I still remember sex education class vividly. Condoms on bananas, cheesy videos, and the odd inappropriate comment from one or the other of my classmates. I was in an all-boys school in Perth, Australia…

Announcements of Love

I’m sorry. I’ll miss you terribly. You look at me hurt…

Sri Lankan TCK Sex

I wasn’t keen on my first time being as awkward and fumbling as the house-party sex stories I was hearing about from my peers…

Cigarettes and Selfishness

The bed was a disarray of white sheets and pillows…

SexBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)11 March 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, atck, ATCK, sex, sexuality, partner, bed, skin, emotionsComment

Rice Cracker Sex

Sex can be rice crackers, crumbs in the corners of the bag…

SexBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)7 March 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, sex, Guam, American, United States, american, sexuality, condom, condoms, Hong KongComment

Kama Sutra & The Perfumed Garden

To an outsider, the Arab world may seem like a culture where norms propagate misogyny and inequality, but this quote showed that sex is a two way street, and pleasure is bilateral…

SexBy Danish Khan (From Melbourne, Perth, Karachi & Islamabad. Living in Karachi)4 March 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, tck, atck, sex, sexuality, culture, India, Indian, Pakistan, Arab, Kama Sutra, The Perfumed Garden Comment